Strip-Based Approach for the Simulation of Mixed Traffic Conditions

AbstractVehicles in homogeneous traffic follow lane-based movement and can be conveniently modeled using car-following and lane-changing models. The former deals with longitudinal movement behavior, while the latter deals with lateral movement behavior. However, typical heterogeneous traffic is characterized by the presence of multiple vehicle types and non-lane-based movement. Because of the off-centered positions of the vehicles, the following driver is not necessarily influenced by a single leader. Additionally, the following behavior of the subject vehicle depends on the type of the front vehicle. Unlike discrete lane changes in the case of lane-based traffic, heterogeneous traffic streams require modeling of continuous lateral movements. Hence, the existing driver behavioral models may not be able to represent the heterogeneous traffic behavior accurately enough. To address these critical issues of heterogeneous traffic, a space discretization–based simulation framework is proposed. The lane is divid...